The Battle of Britain: From the BBC Archives

First-hand accounts featuring the RAF pilots who took part in the Battle of Britain - one of the chief turning points of World War Two. ‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few’ - Winston Churchill The ‘Few’ were the nearly 3,000 RAF pilots who fought against the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain, which raged in the skies over southern England and the English Channel in the summer of 1940.

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First-hand accounts featuring the RAF pilots who took part in the Battle of Britain - one of the chief turning points of World War II.

‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few’ - Winston Churchill. The ‘Few’ were the nearly 3,000 RAF pilots who fought against the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain, which raged in the skies over southern England and the English Channel in the summer of 1940.

With a new prime minister, Winston Churchill, Britain fought alone in Europe - and under the threat of invasion from Hitler’s Germany. Douglas Bader, Flight Lt Richard Hillary, ‘Ginger’ Lacey, and Flight Lt. Brian Kingcombe describe the strains they had to face as pilots: ‘I didn’t have butterflies in my stomach - I had vultures’ and the ‘long, boring hours interspersed with moments of tremendous exhilaration’.

Their determination, bravery, and skill are evident as, outnumbered, they fought doggedly in their superior Hurricanes and Spitfires.

With news bulletins, reportage, personal accounts from the ground crews, and excerpts from Churchill’s famous speeches, this recording undeniably shows why, for the victorious RAF pilots, ‘This was their finest hour’.

I have read a number of works (or listened to them) about the origins and beginnings of WWII. Many good works in the bunch. This BBC program is a nice complement to those more narrative history and scholarly works. It uses first-person accounts and actual first-person radio recordings to sketch what happened in the summer of 1940. Unlike some programs of its type, it is not completely fawning of the British side, or blindly supportive of the aficionados of the Spitfire over the Hurricane. You get some critical material on these topics and others among the more familiar discussion of the Battle of Britain. This is one of those programs that is nice, relatively light history that can be bought and stored on your MP3 player when you need a respite from more serious and longer books. Production quality is exellent.

A quick overview of The Battle of Britain. Well told using first hand accounts from the BBC archives. This selection gives an all too quick view into the days when Hitler was poised to achieve dominance over all of Europe but was foiled the "The Few". The length of this one is good for in between books to break things up a bit

A wonderful listen, with a dignifief yet interesting narrator and recordings from people who were actually there.

Listening to a couple of RAF veterans recount how they effed and blinded at over-zealous Home Guard fools who tried to shoot or arrest them on bailing out, mistaking them for Germans, was almost as much fun as listening to descriptions of hair-raising dogfights.

Thank you chaps. you fought an evil battle against top opponents so people like me could be free. You are all my heroes.

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Amazon Customer

Soesterberg, Netherlands

3/10/12

Overall

"Outstanding"

The Battle of Britain is a hobby of mine. I found this fascinating; of particular note are the (enhanced) broadcasts from during the Battle.

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